Dennis W. Kelly

Interim President, Smithsonian Enterprises

Dennis Kelly is the interim president of Smithsonian Enterprises. Smithsonian Enterprises is the revenue-producing organization at the Smithsonian Institution with three primary divisions: media, retail and business development and licensing.

The media division includes Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines and their online products; Smithsonian Books; goSmithsonian, a brochure and online guide for visitors; and the Smithsonian Channel.

In September 2011, Smithsonian Channel was awarded its first Emmy in cinematography for a nature documentary. The then three-year-old channel is the youngest to have won an Emmy award.

The retail operation includes museum and airport stores, the Smithsonian Catalog, two IMAX Theaters, food concessions and adult and student travel programs. Consumer-product licensing encompasses agreements with more than 40 companies permitting the use of the Smithsonian name following collaboration with Smithsonian staff and curators.

Previously, beginning in 2010, Kelly was the director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Kelly oversaw the 163-acre facility in Rock Creek Park and the 3,200-acre Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va. He was responsible for the operations of the public Zoo in Washington, which has nearly 2 million visitors a year, and managed the Zoo’s research programs, including groundbreaking work by Zoo scientists in conservation biology around the world. He oversaw the fundraising and education programs coordinated by the Zoo’s membership organization, Friends of the National Zoo.

As president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta from 2003 to 2010, Kelly enhanced that institution’s scientific and animal welfare programs and visitor experience and rebuilt its marketing, government relations and fundraising capabilities. He raised more than $40 million in public and private funds for Zoo Atlanta during his six-year tenure.

Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. In 1997, Kelly was appointed chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola Europe, overseeing marketing efforts for flagship and local brands in those markets. In 1999, Kelly joined Green Mountain Energy Co. as president and soon after was named CEO.